Boyd, Lletget score in final U.S. U-23 scrimmage of training camp

BRADENTON, Fla. — The U.S. Under-23 men's national team wrapped up its December camp with a second intra-squad scrimmage on Thursday afternoon, and the competition for roster spots set the tone for a physical and fiery match.

Split up into white and blue teams, the 29 players in camp (Bill Hamid left camp earlier in the week due to family reasons) took part in a windy match at IMG Soccer Academy that saw its share of physical play and rough challenges. The White Team was victorious in the chippy 2-0 affair courtesy of second-half goals from Terrence Boyd and Sebastian Lletget.

"At the end of the day, these guys are a team but they're also fighting for spots You could see that," said head coach Caleb Porter. "They're pros, they're competitors and when the game is on the line, they're going to want to win. That's good. At times, they got a little carried away but I'd rather it that way than to have a bunch of guys that don't care.

"Clearly, they care."

The match marked the end to Porter's first camp with the team. Porter will hold his next camp in January in Los Angeles, and the U.S. U-23 team will play two friendlies in Costa Rica towards the end of it.

"We're going to play Saprissa and Alajuelense, which will be good," said Porter. "We need to get games. You can try to fabricate a game, and we got a lot of questions answered.

"Training is one thing, which is to see guys in elevens, so that was good," Porter said. "But we need to also see them in a real game against another opponent in hostile environments, see how they respond, so that's the thought behind those two games."

*Some of players substituted at halftime returned to the game during the second half.

GAME OBSERVATIONS

Terrence Boyd scored a beautiful goal from 20-25 yards with a toe-poke blast near the midway point of the second half. That was just part of the impressive game Boyd, the White Team's captain, put together. He was active throughout and not afraid to get into challenges, though he should have been sent off prior to scoring his goal when he got a second yellow for a rough challenge on Zarek Valentin.

Amobi Okugo delivered a strong performance as captain of the Blue Team. He covered a lot of ground, broke up several attacks with timely tackles and linked up well with the attack. He got Boyd to receive a yellow card when the German-American forward wrestled him down from behind in an attempt to get the ball.

Sebastian Lletget scored on a well-placed shot just inside the penalty area, and looked good atop the White Team's midfield triangle. He was active in the first half, and kicked it up a notch in the second when he had Jared Jeffrey and Mikkel Diskerud playing behind him.

Dilly Duka looked good in the first half, constantly in the thick of things as the Blue Team enjoyed a better first half than the White Team. Duka did well atop the midfield triangle, creating several chances for his side.

Mikkel Diskerud came off the bench at halftime and helped turn around the White Team's fortunes after a first half largely dominated by the Blue Team. He was tidy in possession save for one terrible back-pass that went to an opposing player in the final third, and he had one bending free kick that was just high.

Freddy Adu failed to make much of an impact. He had a couple of nice plays but was sloppy with some passes that should have been routine for him. He also didn't create much for himself or his teammates. Porter talked after the game about Adu, saying that he showed his quality over the week-long camp, but that he needs to pick up his fitness.

Teal Bunbury was a real threat in the first half with his size and speed, but he was never able to break free on goal. Bunbury went down several times just when he looked ready to beat his defender, but the referee did not whistle anything in his favor.

Sebastien Ibeagha struggled after having a strong showing in the earlier intra-squad match. He had his hands full with Bunbury, and also had a couple of bad passes out of the back.

Gale Agbossoumonde had a mixed showing. He looked good in the first half, passing well out of the back, making runs forward with the ball and coming up with well-timed tackles. The second half was a different story, as he distributed the ball poorly on a few occasions.

None of the goalkeepers had much work to do in the scrappy game, though the save of the match came from Zac MacMath in the second half when he denied an opportunity with a quick reaction.

True, but keep in mind that he hasn’t been playing like many of the others lately. Boyd, Diskerud, and the others have been playing in either reserve matches or with the GenAdidas team in Europe. Adu hasn’t had the same opportunities to keep his fitness at the same level as theirs.

That being said, he could have tried to arrange a training stint abroad like so many other MLS players have been doing lately to keep in shape.

his biggest problem for the entirety of his career has been his fitness, so there are no exterior circumstances here, he just has never been fit enough to play at levels that his skill implies he should, and that is nobody’s fault but his own

Ibeagha has been snubbing Dynamo attempts to sign him as homegrown for a year or two, to go back to Duke, and you wonder whether the strategy of holding out for some sort of post-U20 or U23 miracle (like some European team signs him right out of Duke based on a US tournament) while playing college soccer hasn’t backfired. Ironically, he might have a better chance at U23 if he played professionally, but then he’d have to commit his pro future somewhere.

That’s faulty logic. Bunbury plays regularly as a 1st teamer and lead his team to the playoffs. He gets a great opportunity to start in the upcoming friendlies. yet, after getting reports from one source-btw thanks for the reports Ives-Boyd (playing in a reserve league) is better than Bunbury.

I don’t really feel the need to continue this, but will state that, being something of a US Soccer addict, I’ve read multiple sources on the developments and on Boyd’s progress. Bunbury is a good talent, he hasn’t hit his stride, and maybe he will this season, consistently scoring in MLS. Boyd is playing in a reserve league, and scoring like a maniac. He’ll be playing for the first team soon in the Bundesliga, and has it all going for him.

A Bunbury fan? Fine. This is my opinion. Honestly, I don’t see what the problem is here.

I wouldn’t say Bunbury “lead” SKC to the playoffs, he really ran hot and cold this year. He has a big upside, but like nearly all of the players in Porter’s camp, he just isn’t that consistent yet. imho, Bunbury will not be on the USMNT team by 2014, there are simply too many other forwards with his skill set. (not to say that the USMNT is chock full of forwards, he just doesn’t stand out and I don’t see him being one of the top 4/5 forwards by 2014.

Still don’t like the 4-3-3 for America right now. Our midfielders simply aren’t going to be good enough to possess and Jozy plays much better with a strike partner. I’d like to see Boyd and Jozy work up top (maybe with the senior team too), with shea, okugo, lletget, and gatt as the midfielders. Backline of Williams, center backs in best form, and chandler.

I think Adu still needs to figure out that if he wants to make it he will need to fight for it. It will not happen automatically based on his talent like it did when he was younger. Either he will figure that out at some point and rise up, or he won’t.

Based on performance, Bunbury ABSOLUTELY should be left off the team. What did he do for KC this year? He was ineffective for large parts of the season, and found himself on the bench behind CJ Sapong. And what has he EVER done with the national team? In a B-C team game, he scored a goal that led to a bunch of hype. Except it was a penalty kick. Earned by Agudelo. But congrats on doing a dance and having the tv commentator sing a song about you.

At forward I’d take Altidore, Boyd, Wooten and Agudelo. Bunbury, Jann George and guys like WOod and Doyle are just not there.

You got this twisted! Based on performance, Bunbury has 12 goals in all competition, which includes 2 playoff goal. In contrast, Agudelo is a bench player and Wooten and Boyd play in in the reserve league. Yes, he found himself on the bench behind Sapong, but regained his form and position down the stretch. I am amazed at the negativety toward the kid. Is he still growing as a player? Hell yeah!! I chalenge you and others to go back to the past 4 years of any GA players career and compare it to what Bunbury has accomplished. I think it’s useless to compare his to Boyd’s and Wooten’s unless you feel that the u-23 league is better than the mls.

Agudelo is a bench player because he’s got Henry and Rodgers on his team at his position.
Bunbury was benched on a team with three starting forwards. Did you actually watch him play this year? Aside from 2-3 good games (against bad defenses like Vancouver), his shots, positioning and worst of all his first touch, were all terrible.
Agudelo has two goals for the national team, and drew a penalty kick as well. For a kid who is like three years younger than Bunbury and his PK celebration dance.

All Boyd does is score goals by the bundle, the dude is with Borussia Dortmund, that alone means something. On top of that, he practically scores a goal a game for the U23s. And in U23 camp he does pretty much the same, he had goals in BOTH games in Germany, and again today. What has Bunbury done??